Software Pirates Expose Mac App Store's Security Flaws Apple

Software Pirates Expose Mac App Store's Security Flaws Apple

Pirates and critics have already located a series of security flaws in Apple's new Mac download store, which launched only last week.

John Gruber, the Apple blogger, has warned that the new Mac App Store downloads are easily bootlegged.

"This isn't true for apps that follow Apple's advice on validating App Store receipts. But, alas, it appears that many apps don't perform any validation whatsoever, or do so incorrectly, like Angry Birds. Angry Birds checks for a valid receipt, but doesn't check to see that the bundle ID for the receipt matches its own bundle ID," Gruber commented.

This news follows a statement from the company claiming more than one million downloads were made in the first day of the Mac download store's launch. Perhaps even mor worrying is that Pirate groups have already warned that they have created a programme to make the most of these weaknesses.

The pirates, who hacked into new software download service hours after it was launched, warned the hardware giant that many pieces of paid-for software are vulnerable to unauthorised copying.

Hackers group, Hackulous claims that it has already developed a programme called Kickback which can break the protection on any piece of App Store software. The group added, "We're not going to release Kickback until well after the store's been established."